My team is working on a smaller second robot used for outreach events and experimental techniques, and I wanted to ask some other teams what their experiences were using Anderson Powerpoles vs their experience with Wagos. My team is used to using Wagos, so I want to get others’ opinion on this before jumping to any conclusions. Please share as much as you’d like, even if you’ve only used one or the other before. Thank you! 
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Last used APP connectors in 2017 or 2018. Used them both in FRC and FTC. Lots of issues with poor crimps and poor insertions due to inexperienced or rushed students. I’m sure most of those were avoidable on some level.
Keep some of the Wago in-line connectors around on 2220 for quick repairs since 2022. Haven’t had one fail like that yet.
Ultimately the best connection on a robot is no connection.
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I switched my life to WAGOs a few years ago and it’s been great. I got the team to switch over to them as well. Anderson connectors can’t be moved to new wires; WAGO connectors can. Anderson connectors rely on plastic to maintain clamp force; WAGO connectors do not. Anderson connectors require a crimp tool; WAGO connectors do not.
Edit: this next paragraph has been disproven; see below.
disproven
The catch with the 221-41x levernuts (e.g., 221-412, 221-413): the ones designed for 12AWG don’t really fit the high-strand-count 12AWG silicone-insulated wire you find commonly in FRC (SPARK MAX, NEO, Falcon, Talon SRX, etc…). This includes the in-line 221-2401 lever-nuts. You can sorta jam it in there, but neither the copper nor the insulation really want to fit.
However, the 221-61x levernuts, designed for up to 10AWG, do fit that high-strand-count wire, and it’s much easier to get all of the strands in. The caveat? No in-line connectors are available.
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Out team uses both, but for different purposes and not in all situations.
Andersons are used for larger wires, especially those that are critical. I know plenty of people have problems with crimping the connectors to the wires, but good training takes care of this and, if properly crimped, these connectors do not fail. They are also really easy to plug and unplug intentionally, which is why we use them where replacement of components is a possibility (like drive and large mechanism motors and controllers) but they are also very clean as in-line connectors and fit well into cable guards. If you’re really needing to make sure they don’t come apart you can (as we often do) use the Powerwerx retention clips to make doubly sure they can’t separate.
WAGOs we use for smaller wires where replaceability or deliberate disconnection is desirable. They’re fine for smaller wires and hold them reliably, something we have not found to be as true for larger wires. So things like CAN bus runs and small power wires are the usual target.
All that said, our best practice if at all possible is simple to solder the connections and shrink tube them. There is nothing more secure than a good solder joint and it’s a skill well worth teaching your electricians (if they don’t already know it.) Any wire that is unlikely to need to be disconnected is soldered.
So that’s actually three techniques we use for connections, each suited to purpose.
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The 221 inline ones do fit the high strand flexible silicone wire. @JamesCH95 let me know i was also doing them wrong when i used to say the same thing.
The trick is stripping about the correct amount (11mm/7/16" shown on the side of the wago) then DO NOT TWIST the wires, keep them straight and make sure they go in nicely and you’ll be able to slide the wire in much further and fully seat them into the spring latching connector. I’ve done pull tests with this method and you aren’t gonna have wires fall out.
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We used the inline 221’s all season in 2023. They were way faster, easier, and cheaper than powerpoles.
We did have one occasion where a wire was pulled out of the connector. Next year we’ll experiment with some 3D printed stain reliefs.
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I was having trouble believing this, so I went ahead and tried it for myself. The levernut body is tapered, so it re-combines the strands and it works.
This is a game-changer!
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As others have said there is a reason for both. Crimping is key with APP and even with the right crimpers using them even slightly wrong will result in bad crimps. Even my coworkers dislike them because they have issues crimping them correctly unless they are tedious and take their time.
Wago lever nuts are great in a hurry and in protyping definitely. What I dislike about them is that unlike Anderson with the plastic clip to keep them locked together, nothing secures the lever of a lever nut down except itself. If there was a way to put a clip around the lever to make it more permanent I’d say use only those. @nuclearnerd
if you flipped the lever nuts upside down on the plate then ziptied it I think this would suffice for keeping the levers held down and I’m gonna try that definitely. Below is a picture of the Anderson clip
Also with lever nuts be careful which amperage size it is rated for. They make various sizes and when we first began using them the students didn’t check. We got to our first event and had to change out all motor ones for the next size up. Not fun and it held us up from getting to the practice field right away. We have one size for can and data wires and another for motor wires. At a glance they are identical. The writing on the side near the strip length is your only indicator. Example in the picture is a 20A so it’s not for a drive motor and why we were told it had to be replaced for a 40A circuit.
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The number on the side isn’t always the final word; check out Q139 from the 2022 Q&A.
I don’t know if you could have gotten away with the 221-413 shown, since it isn’t the one called out in the Q&A, but if you look at the same side of a 221-613 (the up-to-10-AWG version), it only reads 30A in the same location, not 40A. It does read 41A on the opposite side.
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If the wago is rated for 12awg copper wire then it should be acceptable for 40A circuits. I believe there was a q&a on this but it would be nice for FIRST to come out and say they’re legal in the first place. They are able to handle higher current than the APP based on what I’ve seen and Rev actually has a video testing both at 80A.
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The answer to Q139 says:
Yes, the REV Robotics rating of “Rated for robot circuits up to 12 AWG” is sufficient to qualify these connectors for use anywhere a 12 AWG wire may be used.
Therefore, any connector that is rated for 12AWG should be legal for use anywhere a 12AWG wire may be used (including 221-41X and 221-2401).
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We also had one pull-out, but the truth was that we used zipties for the spark maxes that didn’t get put back right on a swerve module maintenance, so the controller came free enough to pull one loose. So strain relief would be welcome, but generally otherwise haven’t had issues in a couple of different seasons with WAGO connectors.
Like @Emerson1706 Emerson notes the high strand 12 AWG wire isn’t too challenging as long as you aren’t twisting it and stripping the correct amount. I would highly recommend watching to see that the strands go past the bus bar when connecting them to be sure. If you do mess up the wires too much, cutting and stripping them isn’t too troublesome.
edit: Did a quick look to make sure a 6 mm2 (10 awg) inline connector didn’t become available anywhere. Even checking the ViD connectors from the Great Scott video. But no luck on a larger wire inline WAGO fyi.
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Our team used to use APP and WAGO connectors back in 2022, where our power wires used Anderson Powerpoles and WAGOs on our CAN Bus & smaller power cables. We ran into one issue where an APP connector disconnected once, which was fixed by zip-tying them together, but we ran into several issues throughout all 3 of our events where our CAN Bus was disconnected due to WAGO connectors. After talking to many teams at the World Championships that year, we phased out WAGOs for soldering joints instead. As we were running an all SPARK MAX setup, soldering the CAN Bus did not affect the removability of motor controllers since the 4-pin JST pin connector already acted as such. We had no issues with our CAN Bus this season.
Overall, our team has switched to strictly using APP connectors or soldering, only using WAGOs for splicing and as a backup connector if we don’t have enough time to resolder. I haven’t found any real issues with APP connectors, as long as they are crimped right, and you use zip ties or retention clips to hold them together, they’re the most reliable removable connectors used in FRC IMO. If a team commits to them fully, then it becomes extremely easy to switch out components and motors. Next year we are also planning to use them for parts of our CAN chain like our swerve modules, similar to 973 this year, as it just makes it much simpler to remove wiring in the event we need to replace a swerve module.
By soldering our CAN Bus, we reduce all the other added points of failure that a removable connector like a WAGO would have, and it works out for us as the SPARK MAX already provides a removable connector. If we were running a Falcon 500, or another motor that doesn’t have a removable connector, we’d still prefer soldering or another crimp-like removable connector like a JST SMP or APP. Crimp connections done right are just way more reliable, and if you do have to remove a soldered joint and don’t have time to resolder it, you can have WAGOs as a backup connector.
I’m personally a fan of power poles for motor connections. The are my go to, but I also keep lots of in-line wagos on hand for field repair.
As a CSA, I have seen plenty of bad power pole connections, including this one from a robot last year.
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Ordered them to test them. Curious if they will be any good.
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I’d like to think so, but looking at the wording, I’m not certain.
The answer says that “REV’s rating is sufficient to qualify these connectors…” REV has neither tested nor rated an arbitrary <connector for 12AWG>. I’d want confirmation from Al and Chuck on this before making an actual claim.
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This was either 2018 or 2019 can’t remember which year when we had to swap (before the QA in question). Again we had both sizes anyways for smaller awg wires and larger, but this is good to know going forward.
Going to disagree with your assessment for two reasons.
Q&A answers aren’t legal precedent, they are an answer to the specific question posed to them. One connector being assessed as legal for 40A circuits based on a particular (FRC-specific) vendor’s rating doesn’t mean that all other connectors rated for that same gauge of wire are legal for that application.
More importantly, 2022 Q&A answers apply to the 2022 season only. You would need to pose the question in the 2024 Q&A system for the upcoming season, if it is not addressed by new rules in the manual or Team Updates.
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In general, yes, I agree. I would recommend asking a Q&A for future years to confirm legality, and I hope FIRST puts clarifying language into the manual.
I should have been less absolute with my post, that’s my bad. I would expect the GDC to adopt a similar response towards any connector “rated for 12 awg” in the future.
We use Anderson’s for all 12 and 10 awg wire. And noname 2x2 and 2x4 levernuts for all 5v, low amp 12v, and can.